A Night and a Morning in Camp. Tom's Place.
Inyo National Forest - Monday, 2 July 2018, 8:30am.
Last night we finished our amazing hike into the John Muir Wilderness (previous blog) around 6:30pm. The camp we'd set up earlier in the day was only a short drive back down the road, and food was waiting for us in camp, but we decided we'd rather let someone else do the cooking. So we drove the rest of the way down the road to US-395 and ate at Tom's Place.
Dinner at Tom's Place
Tom's Place is a small group of businesses along US-395 first opened in 1917 as a cafe, bar, gas station, pack station and campground for seasonal visitors. Tom bought it a few years later and expanded it, going to year-round operation as the highway was built past it. "Tom's Place" became the official place name when a post office branch was established in 1961. The post office closed a few years later, and the businesses have changed owners numerous times since then, but the name "Tom's Place" lives on.
An Evening Under the Stars
We drove back up to camp, at around elev. 9,000' (2,750m), as the sun was setting. With the tall ridges on both sides of us it was dark down in the valley while the sky overhead still held light. We both wanted to stay up late enough to see the stars come out, so I killed a few hours in camp reviewing old pictures on my laptop while Hawk read in the tent. We discussed lighting a campfire to keep us company and provide a bit of warmth but lethargy got the better of us. We were tired from a full day of hiking and still weren't acclimated to the high altitude.
Around 10pm the stars were mostly visible. A few wispy clouds in the sky dimmed their light somewhat but it was still a fuller display than we ever see around our populous hometown. We both reminisced about how, when we were kids, we could see stars like that from our suburban homes. Ah, progress.
In the Morning
I slept fitfully in the tent. The ground is hard, even with a bedroll between me and it, and uneven. I woke a few times and tossed and turned. Around 6:45am I decided I'd had enough of trying and would call it a morning. The sun was already rising, lighting the sky and the ridge to our west while it was still shaded in camp.
The wide-angle perspective in the picture above makes it hard to appreciate the size of that mountain. It rises almost 1,500' above our camp!
Hawk was still sleeping so I started making a cold breakfast for myself. Sliced meat, cheese, bread, crackers, and hummus. Then I decided to go sit in our car and run the heater and heated seats for a bit. It was about 45° F/7° C outside. Yeah, that's kind of cheating, but I figure I more than paid my dues camping in cold/rainy/otherwise uncomfortable weather as a kids in the Boy Scouts years ago. Plus, my back was only halfway working after the uncomfortable night of sleep, so I needed the seat heater to loosen my muscles. Ah, the vagaries of getting older.
Hawk got up around 8, and while she was doing a bit of morning cleaning in the camp toilets nearby- toilets with piped water, I should point out; we had to get something to make the place worth $25/night and there was no wifi- I started tearing down the camp.
By this hour the sun is fully up in the sky and the air is starting to warm. I've taken off my fleece vest and will likely switch out of my undershirt soon, leaving only a plain shirt. And pants, of course. No "Donald Duck-ing it" here.
Next up is the question of where to hike today. Our plan as of yesterday was to hike back into the John Muir Wilderness today, going to Ruby Lake. It'd have us starting from the same trailhead and hiking the same trail for the first half mile or so. This morning we've decided that as phenomenally beautiful as the area is, we've done it. We'll come back to hike Ruby Lake some other time, but for today we'll sample a different part of the eastern Sierra Nevada.
Last night we finished our amazing hike into the John Muir Wilderness (previous blog) around 6:30pm. The camp we'd set up earlier in the day was only a short drive back down the road, and food was waiting for us in camp, but we decided we'd rather let someone else do the cooking. So we drove the rest of the way down the road to US-395 and ate at Tom's Place.
Dinner at Tom's Place
Tom's Place is a small group of businesses along US-395 first opened in 1917 as a cafe, bar, gas station, pack station and campground for seasonal visitors. Tom bought it a few years later and expanded it, going to year-round operation as the highway was built past it. "Tom's Place" became the official place name when a post office branch was established in 1961. The post office closed a few years later, and the businesses have changed owners numerous times since then, but the name "Tom's Place" lives on.
An Evening Under the Stars
We drove back up to camp, at around elev. 9,000' (2,750m), as the sun was setting. With the tall ridges on both sides of us it was dark down in the valley while the sky overhead still held light. We both wanted to stay up late enough to see the stars come out, so I killed a few hours in camp reviewing old pictures on my laptop while Hawk read in the tent. We discussed lighting a campfire to keep us company and provide a bit of warmth but lethargy got the better of us. We were tired from a full day of hiking and still weren't acclimated to the high altitude.
Around 10pm the stars were mostly visible. A few wispy clouds in the sky dimmed their light somewhat but it was still a fuller display than we ever see around our populous hometown. We both reminisced about how, when we were kids, we could see stars like that from our suburban homes. Ah, progress.
In the Morning
I slept fitfully in the tent. The ground is hard, even with a bedroll between me and it, and uneven. I woke a few times and tossed and turned. Around 6:45am I decided I'd had enough of trying and would call it a morning. The sun was already rising, lighting the sky and the ridge to our west while it was still shaded in camp.
The wide-angle perspective in the picture above makes it hard to appreciate the size of that mountain. It rises almost 1,500' above our camp!
Hawk was still sleeping so I started making a cold breakfast for myself. Sliced meat, cheese, bread, crackers, and hummus. Then I decided to go sit in our car and run the heater and heated seats for a bit. It was about 45° F/7° C outside. Yeah, that's kind of cheating, but I figure I more than paid my dues camping in cold/rainy/otherwise uncomfortable weather as a kids in the Boy Scouts years ago. Plus, my back was only halfway working after the uncomfortable night of sleep, so I needed the seat heater to loosen my muscles. Ah, the vagaries of getting older.
Hawk got up around 8, and while she was doing a bit of morning cleaning in the camp toilets nearby- toilets with piped water, I should point out; we had to get something to make the place worth $25/night and there was no wifi- I started tearing down the camp.
By this hour the sun is fully up in the sky and the air is starting to warm. I've taken off my fleece vest and will likely switch out of my undershirt soon, leaving only a plain shirt. And pants, of course. No "Donald Duck-ing it" here.
Next up is the question of where to hike today. Our plan as of yesterday was to hike back into the John Muir Wilderness today, going to Ruby Lake. It'd have us starting from the same trailhead and hiking the same trail for the first half mile or so. This morning we've decided that as phenomenally beautiful as the area is, we've done it. We'll come back to hike Ruby Lake some other time, but for today we'll sample a different part of the eastern Sierra Nevada.